1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to electrical communications systems, and more particularly to systems and methods for monitoring and controlling building information systems.
2. Description of Related Art
In a large modem building, such as a manufacturing plant, a building operator can use a dedicated Building Management System (BMS) to manage different building subsystems coupled to the building, including boilers, thermostats, electrical subsystems, controllers, meters, and other equipment. The dedicated BMS typically monitors and controls the building subsystems using a communications network coupling each of the building subsystems. For example, the building operator can use a dedicated BMS to monitor the temperature in a specific zone of the building and to increase or decrease the heat provided to that zone. Typically, a dedicated BMS is executed in a personal computer or workstation located in the building, although such systems can also be operated remotely via a dial-up connection, a local-area network (LAN) or wide-area network (WAN). The data recorded by a dedicated BMS, however, is not readily available to other BMSs or to other applications that would benefit from such data. Furthermore, older dedicated BMSs have typically managed building components using a proprietary channel, which presents an obstacle to adding new service components, interfaces, or clients from different vendors.
Modem BMSs, however, have moved away from the proprietary systems of the late 1980s with the intent of improving a building operator""s ability to integrate different vendors"" subsystems. Such systems, facilitated by industry standard communication protocols such as xe2x80x9cBACnetxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cEchelonxe2x80x9d, are typically characterized as xe2x80x9copen-systemsxe2x80x9d and provide non-proprietary communication interfaces among building subsystems marketed by different vendors. Generally, BACnet and Echelon refer to different types of open-system building network protocols, which allow other BACnet-compliant or Echelon-compliant BMSs and building subsystems to communicate together. In contrast to dedicated BMSs that communicate over proprietary channels, open-system BMSs can provide ready, automatic access to disparate building subsystems without the need for specially developed, vendor-specific interfaces to each vendor""s building subsystem. In other words, an open-system BMS can seamlessly communicate among the building subsystems of different vendors by providing an open-system interface supporting an open-system building network, like BACnet or Echelon.
While open-system BMSs address customer demands for choice and interoperability for managing building subsystems, modem BMSs do not fully address the complex requirements of modem building operators. The EXCEL BUILDING SUPERVISOR (XBS) v.1.4.2, marketed by Honeywell, Inc., is an example of a BMS, which is typically used to locally manage and control a building, including accessing dynamic data detected from points and meters within the building, viewing historical dynamic data, setting schedules for turning specific points on or off, viewing alarms when the dynamic data fails to satisfy an acceptable condition, and issuing control commands to points in the building. The term xe2x80x9cpointsxe2x80x9d refers to sensors and actuators on various building subsystems.
The BMS data provided by a typical BMS is severely limited in quantity and scope, consisting essentially of dynamic data and attributes. The dynamic (or time-varying) data is detected from or provided to points and meters within one or more buildings and stored within the BMS controller itself. The attributes typically include an 8-character identifier of the point or meter, a type characteristic (e.g., digital input, digital output, analog input, analog output), alarm conditions, priority characteristics, and status flags. The data provided by a BMS is not stored in a relational database and is not readily available for use by other non-BMS applications. Furthermore, the BMS does not provide or store configuration data (e.g., describing a particular site, a building, a piece of equipment, and/or a point (or meter) on that equipment) that is also of interest to a building operator. As such, a BMS does not facilitate integration of other needed data and services, such as remotely sending alarms to an email address of a building operator or owner to warn of detected problems with a particular piece of equipment in a particular building. This exemplary functionality is generally outside the scope of a BMS.
Because it is desirable to integrate the data and functionality from a BMS with data and functionality available from other systems, additional data, tools and services are needed to more fully meet these requirements. Furthermore, in some circumstances, a building operator may manage a building remotely or contract with a third party building management company to manage multiple buildings at different geographical locations. A need exists for a remotely accessible building information system that supports the integration of new data, tools and services with a BMS.
In accordance with a preferred embodiment, a method for processing building-related data associated with a building on a building management system network is provided. A request is received by a server process from a client application through a client interface. A database storing the building-related data including building management system data and configuration data associated with the building is accessed in accordance with the request. An acknowledgment of the accessing operation is issued to the client application, the acknowledgment including at least one element of the building-related data.
In accordance with another preferred embodiment, a building information system for processing building-related data associated with a building is also provided, including a database storing the building-related data including building management system data and configuration data associated with the building. A building management system service manages the building subsystem and provides the building management system data stored in the database. A data interface communicates the building-related data to the database. A client interface communicates the building-related data between a client application and the data interface.